The Guardian

Play these substantial choral works to unsuspecting listeners, and few would identify the composer. Michael Finnissy is associated with a rhythmically complex, rebarbative style – torrential volleys of notes in his writing for piano, layers of texture in his orchestral pieces – but the starting point for the 1991 Sacred Motets is plain-chant, and modal inflections give it more kinship to Pärt and Tavener than to Dillon and Ferneyhough. The texts alternate prayers and Marian hymns, and setting seem utterly timeless.